You would have to have your head stuck pretty far into the sand to not see that America, as a nation and as a way of life, already has, or is in, the process of failing. And quickly. The closed minded, divisive nature of two party American thinking has doomed the county. “My way or the highway” has taken us down a wrong way, dead end road.
My personal view of things is a bit different than the average American. Americans are heavily influenced by what appears on their television. A television is usually the focal point of the American home. I have not had a television for over twenty years. I get my information by being there and seeing it. It would appear that circumstances have placed me on the front line of failed America so I could have a good look at it.
This is one of the largest camps of Americans without permanent homes, probably in the county. Over the past few years, it has evolved from a senior citizen camping area to an American refugee camp. When American society crumbles, there won’t be a single catastrophic event that sets off “The Second American Civil War”, the country will fail from the bottom up. That’s what’s happening now and the process is well under way.
The people who camp on this barren patch of windswept desert range from decreasing numbers of elderly retired “snowbirds” in giant land yachts, to middle class retired folks, homeless American veterans and increasing numbers of homeless Americans and American families. The overwhelming majority of these people would be somewhere more comfortable if they had the means.
There are no drug addicts or drunks lying in the road because many of the people here don’t have the money for recreational drugs, ice cold beer or cocktails. The retired people have had the rising cost of living eliminate savings and retirement accounts. Living in a small motorhome is all that’s left of a life of working for somebody else. Of course, there are plenty of homeless American veterans, including myself. Many visitors here have been a victim of insurance companies. Somebody in the family gets sick, insurance won’t pay for expenses, you lose your home and anything else you have. Medical expenses are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States. Insurance companies and lawyers make money off sick people, what’s left of their family ends up here.
You never hear about places like this because this is the picture of homeless people the American government does not want you to see. They want you to think all homeless people are dirty, drug addicted criminals living in the city park and endangering the the lives and property of good Americans. They don’t want you to see that the majority of the people in this desert refugee camp have been fucked over by the American government or the insurance cartel. They don’t want you to see the truth. They don’t want you to see this because this is the future of America. You are much closer to living in your car than paying off your mortgage.
This area is federal land, owned by the United States government. It is in one state and managed by offices of the Bureau of Land Management(BLM) in another state. There are no BLM management employees here and no security, like park rangers. This large area of supposedly public land is run, not to be mistaken with “managed”, by a group of “volunteers”, who live here, year round, rent-free, all utilities paid. One guy cleans the two bathrooms that are working about twice a week. He mostly does a good job, even if he is overcompensated. The only other park facility is a sanitary dump for RVs to empty their wastewater. The other ten or so “volunteers”, collect park fees. From long term fees of nearly $200, to daily use fee of $10 per vehicle, from thousands of visitors, all in cash. That’s all they do, basically collect their own rent money.
There are no rules here. Technically, there are rules, a whole pamphlet full of them, it’s just that nobody follows them and there is nothing here to prevent people from doing whatever they want. The “volunteers” do not enforce any of the rules unless it involves permits and cash. Rules that are in place for safety and civility are totally ignored. When the majority of the people here were elderly “snowbirds”, things were generally civil and there weren’t too many problems. Now, this area is known as a place where you can get away with anything and people come here to do exactly that.
It would seem an easy thing to manage a patch of desert with no trees, no campsites, not even any large rocks. Like everything else in America, things are not always what they seem. You don’t have to be a management expert to see what’s going on here. The majority of the visitors to this “fee area” do not pay. The long term campers pay if they are near one of the “volunteer” residences or the “volunteers” will call the park rangers and the camper is kicked out. Day users and weekend visitors don’t need to pay anything. There is a nice waterfront section of the area set aside for these local weekend warriors so they can raise hell without problems with the long term paying customers. This area is never checked for permits. The “volunteers” are happy to hassle the mostly elderly retired folks, but turn a complete blind eye to a bunch of drunks trashing the place for free.
Last year, the passes they stick on your vehicle after you pay your fee were not available for some reason. For a month and a half, everybody camped for free. Since the area was not officially open, neither were the bathrooms. To use maintained bathrooms, showers and a parking lot near the river, I had to pay $75 for an additional permit that was previously included with the permits that were not available. Cash, of course, no receipt. Later, a different volunteer hassled me claiming the permit was not valid. He told me he was going to call park rangers and have me kicked out of the camping area. I played him a bit of the $75 permit transaction I had recorded on my phone. He tried to grab my phone, which I prevented, warning him to not make another aggressive move towards me. I told him I would be happy to speak with the park ranger, as would the people who just witnessed what had just happened. No park ranger showed up.
This year, the majority of the bathrooms, along with the indoor showers, are closed. Shortly after the peak season holiday visitors arrived, the one remaining outdoor shower was closed. Four to six mens and womens toilets used by thousands of people. Men use womens bathrooms because they are cleaner and more likely to have toilet paper. The same men who would deny use of this bathroom to transsexual people have no problem using the womens bathroom themselves. Nothing to do with transsexuals, but the hypocrisy of “what people do when nobody’s looking” is on full display. No showers. One camping area without water is supposedly closed. The hundreds of people staying in this campground have no showers. Some of them will be here six months. The closed camping area without water is a popular spot and is always full of campers. $15 a night, fourteen day maximum stay. Closed during the peak camping season, it is losing thousands of dollars a month. Even though the campground is closed, as you can see in the photo below, camping is still allowed. Are these people paying to camp in a closed area with no water? Where are these people going to the bathroom? The “volunteers” from this closed camping area have moved to the main campground, free rent, no responsibilities.
Why is this popular campground closed during the peak season, losing money every single day? There isn’t anyone in the BLM that can fix it or they are unable to hire a contractor? What is going on? Under normal circumstances, one might contact the local BLM office, but you don’t do that here. Contacting the BLM office in charge of this campsite is not an option. I found this out when I called to inquire about the $75 permit with no receipt I had to buy when the permit I needed was not available. I was told by the BLM that if I didn’t like the way the place was run, I could leave. Of course, once they have your money, your untraceable cash money, their job is done and they are happy to see you leave. Unfortunately, that is not the worst of it.
Because the rules of the camping area are not enforced and in reality, there are no laws here, visitors are left to settle problems amongst themselves. This leads to conflicts and physical confrontations. Since there are no BLM employees here to prevent criminal activity, the “volunteers” instruct you to call 911. When the police or park rangers arrive, all involved parties, perpetrator, crime victim and any witnesses that saw too much are kicked out of the area, forfeiting any fees paid. There are no crime reports, no records, no paperwork. Everyone, good and bad, is kicked out, the “volunteers” can destroy any paperwork from permits they may have and the incident never happened, the participants were never here.
Two years ago, an elderly couple was walking down the main road of the camping area when they were attacked by a large unleashed dog. The old man did his best to protect his wife and got chewed up pretty good. The dog owner had no control over the dog, the animal had to be pulled off the old man by several bystanders. After the dog was under control, he began to threaten and berate the bloody elderly man and his scared to death wife. Again, bystanders stepped in to separate the man from the elderly couple. The old man was bleeding pretty good, most of his wounds were puncture wounds from the dog’s teeth. People helped them to their truck and they headed off to the nearest hospital ER, more than twenty miles away. The dog owner immediately packed his stuff, hitched up his trailer and was gone a few minutes later.
During or after the dog attack, someone, not the elderly couple that was attacked, called 911. A county sheriff arrived some time after the dog attack. The attacker was long gone and no attempt was made to speak with witnesses. The deputy waited for the elderly couple to return from the hospital and the deputy promptly kicked them out of the camping area. These two old people who had done nothing except be in the wrong place at the wrong time, wound up with nasty injuries for the old man, the $180-$250 cash fee they paid was forfeit in addition to whatever a visit to the emergency room cost. And their vacation, if that’s what it was, was over. The man whose dog attacked these poor people was back in the same camping spot a week later with no permit, one of the many here who do no pay the supposedly required fee, without objection from the area’s “volunteers”.
What does any of this have to do with anything? Why should anybody care about a bunch of homeless veterans and senior citizens camping out in the desert? Because this is the future of the United States. America is a big county and it’s failure is going to be slow, long and painful. It is unlikely to fail from the top, where politicians and organized crime do their business, although it is entirely possible. America is crumbling from the bottom up. Sections of the country have already failed, including here and on other places “where nobody’s looking”. Extremists are already staking out “homestead” claims on federal land, ready to move in when the government fails. The “volunteers” here already live on federal land. They have homeless veterans and retired people paying their rent.
While this property is in one state, one of the most liberal in the country, the BLM office that manages it is in another state, one of the most extreme right wing states in America. There is no source of reliable information here, all you have is what you see and hear for yourself. The “volunteers” have retreated into one of the five or so residential areas of the area set aside just for them. They are not aggressively checking permits as they have in the past. Word has gotten around that camping here is essentially free and people are streaming in to take advantage. This place has all the looks of public land that is being shut down and closed to the public like similar recreation areas in the Pacific Northwest.
There are hundreds of people camping here with no showers and only a few working toilets. The United States can send a man to Mars and will spend sixteen billion dollars on political campaign spending this year, but they do not have the resources to fix a few showers and toilets. Seems hard to believe, but there’s more. This area is located on the troubled Colorado River with a number of southwest American states fighting for the precious water. The recreational area has been used by desert campers for decades. Supposedly, the bathrooms and showers were put here to keep thousands of people from taking a shit in the Colorado River with agricultural areas just downstream, and to prevent the desert from turning into a garbage dump.
We are in an area with no real law and order. People do whatever they want, wrongdoing is covered up. Some of what you see and hear would indicate that this behavior by the BLM and law enforcement is politically motivated. Normally, that would sound crazy, but not in the current state of America. Most of the visitors here are from the conservative state where the BLM is located. Over the years, I have become friendly with several local fishermen. They tell me they’ve been using this facility for years and never bought a permit. They told me the BLM only tickets out of state vehicles, that is, vehicles not from the state the BLM office and it’s employees are located. He says its their way of “sticking to the libs”, which is, I guess, everybody else.
The first signs of political influence were during the COVID pandemic. After a flood of COVID refugees from metro Southern California cities, right wing political newspapers like the Epoch Times, which published misinformation about the pandemic, appeared in the campground bathrooms. The newspapers were addressed to one of the area’s “volunteer” residents. All the “volunteers” seem to be from politically conservative states.
What do no showers and national politics have to do with all this? Like I said earlier, it’s difficult to believe the United States Federal Government does not have the resources to repair a few bathrooms and showers or are unable to hire a contractor. Odds are, if they wanted, those bathrooms could be repaired in forty eight hours or less. From the information that is available, none of it from the BLM, it has to do with the sign pictured below.
That’s right, this area is part of President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Law, whatever that is. Personally, I have not seen any improvements of any kind. Are camp showers and toilets used by thousands of Americans considered “infrastructure”? The important thing is that this sign, here because of Democrat President Joe Biden, is less than one mile from the border with the conservative state home of the BLM. This is not Joe Biden country by any stretch of imagination and no doubt the majority of the people driving by this sign would like to see Biden and his family buried in the desert. Word is that’s why the showers and bathrooms are not being repaired, to spite Joe Biden and “stick it to the libs”, like with the park permits. Just like last season and the missing park permit stickers, this year there are no showers. Regardless who’s to blame, the people that suffer are the mostly elderly people who have paid to stay at the campground.
Are federal employees and their “volunteers” waging an underground political war against the government they work for, using their positions to make a political statement and willingly causing harm to people trusting them to keep them safe? Speaking of trusting government employees to do their jobs, what about the heavily armed park rangers and police? Having witnessed the way they handle things around here, are they wanting to “stick it to the libs” as well? How to you find the facts, the truth about what is going on? Who can you trust?
Update March 11, 2024
At the beginning of March, many of the long-term winter campers, mostly what’s left of the once popular “snowbirds”, have left. Several mentioned the unsanitary bathroom conditions and lack of showers. Others said they wanted to leave before the out of control spring break crowds arrive.
On the subject of no bathrooms or showers, it turns out the bathrooms and showers that were supposedly out of service, were turned on. There was never a problem with the bathrooms or the showers, the BLM shut them off so campers would not be able to use them. Even with no bathrooms or showers, the BLM “volunteers” continued to collect fees, in cash, from campers to whom they provided absolutely no services. The “volunteer” who was in charge of collecting fees at the campground with no services was living across the road from me in a neighboring campground, not wanting to live without bathroom facilities in the other campground. He drove to the supposedly closed campground twice a day to collect cash, returning to his rent free residence next to one of the two working bathrooms.
The BLM posts false information on their website about the camping on federal land. People drive hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles to visit only to find a spot with no sanitary facilities and overflowing dumpsters. A place without rules or laws, run by corrupt BLM employees who extort cash from visitors without providing any services. It is essentially a private residence for about a dozen individuals who live on federal property for free, all utilities paid. These volunteers collect cash from visitors without supervision. None of them have any responsibility and none of them are employees of the BLM or the federal government.
The question now is if the BLM and their gang of squatters and cronies are politically motivated. The observations in the post above about “sticking it to the libs” while employed by the federal government seems to make a lot more sense now. There’s no question that the BLM and their pals are operating outside what used to be recognized as American law, living on federal land for free, extorting money from law abiding American citizens. This can be confirmed by a short period of observation of the daily activities of the park’s “volunteers”, who treat the tax paying American citizens, who pay for their rent-free vacation lifestyle, using public land like trespassers. And what about the park rangers and police that protect this illegal activity? How far will they go to keep the easy money flowing or to make a political statement? Armed government police, able to kill anyone at anytime without restraint, in complete support of illegal activity with an anti-government bias, is a frightening thought to a law abiding American.
Out here in the middle of the desert, it is clear that the basic structure of American government has failed. There’s not much here and not much government to go with it. Easy to see. You won’t see it on TV or read about it anywhere. America is failing from the bottom up. The country is breaking apart piece by piece.
These government wants you to sit on your couch while they feed you a steady stream of false and misleading information. They don’t want you to go outside and look for yourself and most Americans will not, preferring a comfortable stream of believable bullshit on TV. America is a failed nation, most Americans are too brainwashed to care. It’s happening in plain sight, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, but Americans only see what they want to see or what they are told to see. By this time, there has to be a significant number of Americans who still have some remnants of logic and common sense that understand that the American way of life is nearly over. Unfortunately, there is a much larger number of Americans who know the nation is failing, but choose to sit on the couch watching TV, believing that if they get rid of “the other guy”, the guy from the opposite political party, the black guy, the migrant worker, or the guy with different religious beliefs, all the problems will go away.
Again, why should anyone care about bathrooms in the middle of the desert? Because the structure of American government and American society has failed here. No doubts. This is it. In the big picture, a minor incident, but we are on the way.
1-20-2025 ronbosroad.com website is online. Links updated. The situation here is worse.